Friendship, Impermanence, Attachment and Mindfulness

Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is.
In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day,
'one who knows the better way to live alone.'
- Bhaddekaratta Sutta


As I go through my daily life, I periodically like to reach out to friends that I haven't heard from in a while. Sometimes they would return my calls,emails, reaches out etc. Sometimes they would not. I used to get upset, even offended when my attempted reaches out to contact would go unresponded to. I would think, "How dare they... Who do they think they are, not responding to ME!" It's funny how attached we get. Never thinking or being mindful of the fact that our friends or family even are not the same people that they were yesterday, this morning or even a few minutes ago. And they certainly won't be the same, neither will we. We have to accept the fact the love we have for friends grows,changes and matures. Sometimes the love we have for friends sours into indifference and at worst the friendship deteriorates into dislike. Such is life. Once I learned and began to understand what happens to us as humans it gave me a greater appreciation for each and every moment that I have to spend with friends, family even acquaintances. Because the person that you love and know now at this very moment will never be the exact same person that you love and know again. Appreciate that. Namaste.